Did Pope Resign To Avoid Arrest, Seizure of Wealth

[John317]

International Common Law Court of Justice, The Vatican

Pope Benedict resigned to avoid arrest, seizure of church wealth by Easter

Posted on February 13, 2013 by itccs

Diplomatic Note was issued to Vatican just prior to his resignation

New Pope and Catholic clergy face indictment and arrest as "Easter Reclamation" plan continues

A Global Media Release and Statement from The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State

Brussels:

The historically unprecedented resignation of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope this week was compelled by an upcoming action by a European government to issue an arrest warrant against Ratzinger and a public lien against Vatican property and assets by Easter.

The ITCCS Central Office in Brussels is compelled by Pope Benedict's sudden abdication to disclose the following details:

1. On Friday, February 1, 2013, on the basis of evidence supplied by our affiliated Common Law Court of Justice (itccs.org), our Office concluded an agreement with representatives of a European nation and its courts to secure an arrest warrant against Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict, for crimes against humanity and ordering a criminal conspiracy.

2. This arrest warrant was to be delivered to the office of the "Holy See" in Rome on Friday, February 15, 2013. It allowed the nation in question to detain Ratzinger as a suspect in a crime if he entered its sovereign territory.

3. A diplomatic note was issued by the said nation's government to the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, on Monday, February 4, 2013, informing Bertone of the impending arrest warrant and inviting his office to comply. No reply to this note was received from Cardinal Bertone or his office; but six days later, Pope Benedict resigned.

4. The agreement between our Tribunal and the said nation included a second provision to issue a commercial lien through that nation's courts against the property and wealth of the Roman Catholic church commencing on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013. This lien was to be accompanied by a public and global "Easter Reclamation Campaign" whereby Catholic church property was to be occupied and claimed by citizens as public assets forfeited under international law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

5. It is the decision of our Tribunal and the said nation's government to proceed with the arrest of Joseph Ratzinger upon his vacating the office of the Roman Pontiff on a charge of crimes against humanity and criminal conspiracy.

6. It is our further decision to proceed as well with the indictment and arrest of Joseph Ratzinger's successor as Pope on the same charges; and to enforce the commercial lien and "Easter Reclamation Campaign" against the Roman Catholic church, as planned.

In closing, our Tribunal acknowledges that Pope Benedict's complicity in criminal activities of the Vatican Bank (IOR) was compelling his eventual dismissal by the highest officials of the Vatican. But according to our sources, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone forced Joseph Ratzinger's resignation immediately, and in direct response to the diplomatic note concerning the arrest warrant that was issued to him by the said nation's government on February 4, 2013.

We call upon all citizens and governments to assist our efforts to legally and directly disestablish the Vatican, Inc. and arrest its chief officers and clergy who are complicit in crimes against humanity and the ongoing criminal conspiracy to aid and protect child torture and trafficking.

Further bulletins on the events of the Easter Reclamation Campaign will be issued by our Office this week.

Issued 13 February, 2013

12:00 am GMT

by the Brussels Central Office

Source: http://itccs.org/

[debbym]

The story is gruesome, and grieving.

I hope there will be some justice.

deb

[BobRyan]

What "crimes against humanity"??

These?

Quote:

1. the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion, which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats,

2. the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-AIDS infection exists, and

3. the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes.

The same article claims -

Quote:

Under the same facts and circumstances, can this be any different merely because it concerns an organization that acts in the same way not only toward a few, but worldwide, calling itself the “Roman Catholic Church” and constantly referring to religious freedom, while setting “sect commissioners” onto those of different faith? It is not different, but people have simply become accustomed to it. However, since July 1, 2002, this inurement is no longer admissible. On this day, the statute for the International Criminal Court came into effect, making crimes against humanity a punishable offense.

[BobRyan]

Who else is reporting this?

Quote:

Pope Benedict to seek immunity and protection from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on February 23

Posted on February 14, 2013 by itccs

International Tribunal calls on Napolitano to "not collude in criminality", and announces global campaign to occupy Vatican property and launch human rights inquiry in Italy

Rome (9 am local time):

Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, has scheduled a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano for Saturday, February 23 to discuss securing protection and immunity from prosecution from the Italian government, according to Italian media sources.

Ratzinger's meeting follows upon the apparent receipt by the Vatican of a diplomatic note from an undisclosed European government on February 4, stating its intention to issue an arrest warrant for Ratzinger, who resigned from his pontificate less than a week later.

In response to the February 23 meeting, the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS), through its field Secretary, Rev. Kevin Annett, has written to President Napolitano, asking him to refrain from assisting Ratzinger in evading justice.

The ITCCS letter states, in part,

"I need not remind you, Mr. President, that under international law and treaties that have been ratified by Italy, you and your government are forbidden from granting such protection to those like Joseph Ratzinger who have aided and abetted criminal actions, such as ordering Bishops and Cardinals in America and elsewhere to protect known child rapists among their clergy.

"Your obligation to the Vatican through the Lateran Treaty does not negate or nullify the requirements of these higher moral and international laws; nor does it require that you give any protection or immunity to a single individual like Joseph Ratzinger, especially after he has left his papal office."

A copy of the complete text of the ITCCS letter follows.

In response to the documented crimes of child torture, trafficking and genocide linked to Pope Benedict and Vatican officials, the ITCCS will be sponsoring a series of ongoing protests and occupations of Roman Catholic churches and offices through its affiliates around the world beginning in Easter week, March 24-31, 2013, and continuing indefinitely.

These actions will accompany the legal efforts to bring Joseph Ratzinger and other Vatican officials to trial for their proven complicity in crimes against humanity and criminal conspiracy.

The Easter Reclamation Campaign will seize church property and assets to prevent their use by child raping priests, who are protected under Catholic canon law. Citizens have this right to defend their communities and children when the authorities refuse to do so, under international law.

Rev. Kevin Annett and an official delegation from the ITCCS Central Office will also be convening a formal human rights inquiry in Rome commencing the week of May 13, 2013, to consider further charges against the Vatican and its new Pope for crimes against humanity and obstruction of justice.

Rev. Annett and his delegation will be working with organizations across Italy in this investigation. In 2009 and 2010, he held rallies outside the Vatican and met with media and human rights groups across Italy to charge the Vatican with the death of more than 50,000 aboriginal children in Canada.

——————-

An Open Letter and Appeal to Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Republic of Italy from Rev. Kevin D. Annett, Secretary of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State

14 February, 2013

Al Presdente della Repubblica Italiana Giorgio Napolitano

Presidenza della Repubblica

c/o Palazzo del Quirinale

00187 Roma

Italia

Dear President Napolitano,

On behalf of our Tribunal and people of conscience everywhere, and of the millions of victims of church abuse, I am making an appeal to you regarding your upcoming meeting with Joseph Ratzinger, who will retire soon as Pope Benedict, the Pontiff of the Church of Rome.

Our understanding is that, in the wake of pressure to have him resign his office because of his proven complicity in concealing child trafficking in his church and other crimes against humanity, Joseph Ratzinger is seeking the assistance of the Italian government in securing protection and immunity from legal prosecution.

I need not remind you, Mr. President, that under international law and treaties that have been ratified by Italy, you and your government are forbidden from granting such protection to those like Jospeh Ratzinger who have aided and abetted criminal actions, such as ordering Bishops and Cardinals in America and elsewhere to protect known child rapists among their clergy.

Your obligation to the Vatican through the Lateran Treaties does not negate or nullify the requirements of these higher moral and international laws; nor does it require that you give any protection or immunity to a single individual like Joseph Ratzinger, especially after he has left his papal office.

The need for you to abide by international law and not be seen to collude with Joseph Ratzinger is even more true when one considers the enormity of the crimes of which the Vatican and its highest officials are clearly guilty, according to considerable evidence gathered and documented by our Tribunal and other groups, and acknowledged by many governments.

In Canada alone, the Roman Catholic Church and its Vatican agents have been found guilty of responsibility for genocide and the deaths of at least 50,000 aboriginal child children in the Jesuit-initiated Indian residential school system, that operated until 1996.

In Ireland, more than 10,000 women suffered and were exploited in the Catholic-run Magdalene Laundries, where many of them died. Similar church-run institutions all over the world have caused enormous mortality, disease and ruination for millions of children. And yet the church has never been held accountable or prosecuted for these deaths and the theft of enormous wealth from entire nations.

With the recent initiative of at least one European government and a host of lawyers to bring Joseph Ratzinger and other church officials to trial for these crimes, we feel it is incumbent on you neither to assist nor to be seen to assist or condone the attempt by him to evade, obstruct or delay justice, lest you open yourself to a charge of being an accessory to a crime.

On behalf of our Tribunal and of many people who cannot speak, I call on you to stand on the law of nations and humanity, and offer no support or protection to Joseph Ratzinger or his accessories in their efforts to evade responsibility for their proven crimes.

I look forward to your reply, and to discussing this with you more when I visit your country in May with a human rights delegation to investigate this matter more closely.

Sincerely,

Kevin D. Annett, M.A., M.Div.

Secretary, The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State

Central Office, Brussels

cc: world media

[debbym]

google it.

you will watch wealthy learned masters of evasion do everything humanly possibly to make nothing of these real crimes.

[Stan]

In the US aren't the Heads of State (President) granted immunity by the new president?

[Bravus]

It's important to wait on credible sources: allegations that feed in to our existing assumptions and prejudices are easy to jump on, but... well, see my .sig.

[Bravus]

Based on their own site, this 'international tribunal' consists of one Canadian:

http://itccs.org/tribunal-members/

[Narcah]

Like I told someone recently, there is no way there is any police force in the world (legitimate) that is going to arrest the pope. 1: Isn't the Vatican like their own country? 2: I'm guessing that the leader of the Vatican would have diplomatic immunity?

[BobRyan]

From what I have read - the issue is not "will someone please go to the Vatican and arrest somebody" rather the issue is "can we confiscate Roman Catholic property in our country as reparations for damages"?

That seems to be what the legal action is driving for -

Hence that meeting on Feb 28?

[Daryl]

If this is legitimate, and I am not saying whether it is or isn't, then why isn't the news media, such as CNN, saying anything about this?

[Ted Oplinger]

From what I have read - the issue is not "will someone please go to the Vatican and arrest somebody" rather the issue is "can we confiscate Roman Catholic property in our country as reparations for damages"?

That seems to be what the legal action is driving for -

Hence that meeting on Feb 28?

I may be ignorant on the subject, but I don't think that is possible. If I am not mistaken - the Lateran concordant repatrioted the Papal States back to the Vatican, and are a country unto themselves. It would be like Italy demanding French land for the French swindling Italy.

It may be that the 1929 agreement brought the fatally wounded head back to life...but those wounds aren't healing too well.

Blessings,

[debbym]

Quote:

Poster: Ted Oplinger

I may be ignorant on the subject, but I don't think that is possible. If I am not mistaken - the Lateran concordant repatrioted the Papal States back to the Vatican, and are a country unto themselves. It would be like Italy demanding French land for the French swindling Italy.

Quote:

(Reuters) - Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.

"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It is absolutely necessary" that he stays in the Vatican, said the source, adding that Benedict should have a "dignified existence" in his remaining years.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-pope-resignation-immunity-idUSBRE91E0ZI20130215

there are many victims and victim groups that have been doing all they can to hold the pope responsible and none will be able to touch him apparently.

i believe that God knows every event of harm to children and innocents, "vengeance is mine saith the Lord"

I cannot bear the burden of terrible crimes against children. i have to rest it with God.

But i would hope someone do something to correct the plight in the native people in Canada and those in Alaska who have also suffered in similar ways. unfortunately it is something readily put in the closet and disregarded.

i think it is noble of this guy, who has done an incredible job of increasing awareness of these crimes. the holocaust survivors and their families, and people have also maintained the reality of their crimes too, in the hope it would prevent it from happening again. the Romani (Gypsy) people were also sent to the death camps but few people know how they were targeted also, along with other groups.

I would be happy for justice to come.

deb

[John317]

Consider the following news account:

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.

"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It is absolutely necessary" that he stays in the Vatican, said the source, adding that Benedict should have a "dignified existence" in his remaining years.

Vatican sources said officials had three main considerations in deciding that Benedict should live in a convent in the Vatican after he resigns on February 28.

Vatican police, who already know the pope and his habits, will be able to guarantee his privacy and security and not have to entrust it to a foreign police force, which would be necessary if he moved to another country.

"I see a big problem if he would go anywhere else. I'm thinking in terms of his personal security, his safety. We don't have a secret service that can devote huge resources (like they do) to ex-presidents," the official said.

Another consideration was that if the pope did move permanently to another country, living in seclusion in a monastery in his native Germany, for example, the location might become a place of pilgrimage.

POTENTIAL EXPOSURE

This could be complicated for the Church, particularly in the unlikely event that the next pope makes decisions that may displease conservatives, who could then go to Benedict's place of residence to pay tribute to him.

"That would be very problematic," another Vatican official said.

The final key consideration is the pope's potential exposure to legal claims over the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals.

In 2010, for example, Benedict was named as a defendant in a law suit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier. The lawyers withdrew the case last year and the Vatican said it was a major victory that proved the pope could not be held liable for the actions of abusive priests.

Benedict is currently not named specifically in any other case. The Vatican does not expect any more but is not ruling out the possibility.

"(If he lived anywhere else) then we might have those crazies who are filing lawsuits, or some magistrate might arrest him like other (former) heads of state have been for alleged acts while he was head of state," one source said.

Another official said: "While this was not the main consideration, it certainly is a corollary, a natural result."

After he resigns, Benedict will no longer be the sovereign monarch of the State of Vatican City, which is surrounded by Rome, but will retain Vatican citizenship and residency.

LATERAN PACTS

That would continue to provide him immunity under the provisions of the Lateran Pacts while he is in the Vatican and even if he makes jaunts into Italy as a Vatican citizen.

The 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Holy See, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state, said Vatican City would be "invariably and in every event considered as neutral and inviolable territory".

There have been repeated calls for Benedict's arrest over sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

When Benedict went to Britain in 2010, British author and atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins asked authorities to arrest the pope to face questions over the Church's child abuse scandal.

Dawkins and the late British-American journalist Christopher Hitchens commissioned lawyers to explore ways of taking legal action against the pope. Their efforts came to nothing because the pope was a head of state and so enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

In 2011, victims of sexual abuse by the clergy asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the pope and three Vatican officials over sexual abuse.

The New York-based rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and another group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), filed a complaint with the ICC alleging that Vatican officials committed crimes against humanity because they tolerated and enabled sex crimes.

The ICC has not taken up the case but has never said why. It generally does not comment on why it does not take up cases.

NOT LIKE A CEO

The Vatican has consistently said that a pope cannot be held accountable for cases of abuse committed by others because priests are employees of individual dioceses around the world and not direct employees of the Vatican. It says the head of the church cannot be compared to the CEO of a company.

Victims groups have said Benedict, particularly in his previous job at the head of the Vatican's doctrinal department, turned a blind eye to the overall policies of local Churches, which moved abusers from parish to parish instead of defrocking them and handing them over to authorities.

The Vatican has denied this. The pope has apologized for abuse in the Church, has met with abuse victims on many of his trips, and ordered a major investigation into abuse in Ireland.

But groups representing some of the victims say the Pope will leave office with a stain on his legacy because he was in positions of power in the Vatican for more than three decades, first as a cardinal and then as pope, and should have done more.

The scandals began years before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005 but the issue has overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world.

As recently as last month, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, was stripped by his successor of all public and administrative duties after a thousands of pages of files detailing abuse in the 1980s were made public.

Mahony, who was archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 until 2011, has apologized for "mistakes" he made as archbishop, saying he had not been equipped to deal with the problem of sexual misconduct involving children. The pope was not named in that case.

In 2007, the Los Angeles archdiocese, which serves 4 million Catholics, reached a $660 million civil settlement with more than 500 victims of child molestation, the biggest agreement of its kind in the United States.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope "gave the fight against sexual abuse a new impulse, ensuring that new rules were put in place to prevent future abuse and to listen to victims. That was a great merit of his papacy and for that we will be grateful".

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy; Edited by Simon Robinson and Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-security-immunity-remaining-vatican-185854114.html

[John317]

I wonder how true this is?

Quote:

Theories are abounding now that the first pope in seven centuries is resigning his office. But as usual, finding the truth behind the world's oldest corporation is simply to follow the money: and specifically, Vatican Bank money.

First of all, let's put to rest, the fallacy that "looming scandals" about child rape and coverup are behind Joseph Ratzinger's resignation. That's just the cover story.

Nobody in the church hierarchy is losing sleep over their standing, canon-law endorsed policy of concealing and protecting child rapists in their ranks. Even the International Criminal Court application about such crimes has been stymied by catholic-run legislators and jurists.

What sounded the death knell on Pope Benedict was his personal involvement in the bribery and money-laundering practices of the Vatican Bank, comically known as The Institute of Religious Works (IOR). That dirty connection gave the anti-Ratzinger faction in the College of Cardinals the needed leverage to dump the obstinate German from the papal throne.

Source: http://henrymakow.com/2013/02/vatican-bank-shenanigans-behin.html

[BobRyan]

From what I have read - the issue is not "will someone please go to the Vatican and arrest somebody" rather the issue is "can we confiscate Roman Catholic property in our country as reparations for damages"?

That seems to be what the legal action is driving for -

Hence that meeting on Feb 28?

[olger]

His infallibility was failing..

[Ted Oplinger]

Originally Posted By: BobRyan

From what I have read - the issue is not "will someone please go to the Vatican and arrest somebody" rather the issue is "can we confiscate Roman Catholic property in our country as reparations for damages"?

That seems to be what the legal action is driving for -

Hence that meeting on Feb 28?

Originally Posted By: Ted Oplinger

I may be ignorant on the subject, but I don't think that is possible. If I am not mistaken - the Lateran concordant repatrioted the Papal States back to the Vatican, and are a country unto themselves. It would be like Italy demanding French land for the French swindling Italy.

It may be that the 1929 agreement brought the fatally wounded head back to life...but those wounds aren't healing too well.

Blessings,

1. I don't think any former "Papal states" were handed back to the Vatican in 1929. That would mean that a major portion of Itally is under vatican rule - instead of just Vatican city. Perhaps you meant "papal state" - the "0.2 square mile" known as Vatican city.

[Textus Receptus]

Some are saying that something BIG is brewing and they are using this resignation to take the focus off something that is happening behind closed doors. Whether there is any truth to this, who knows but history does set some precedence how they operate. It is interesting to note that the Jesuit General also resigned, the first since their inception. Not that these two issues related--just interesting. The bible makes it clear that the Beast controls the entire world. It is highly unlikely that the EU which is Masonically controlled would do anything without the Jesuits giving the order. Does 1798 sound familiar? Again, who knows. What I do know is that black is white and white is black.

[Guest]

That IS interesting, Textus. About the Jesuit General.

[phkrause]

Some are saying that something BIG is brewing and they are using this resignation to take the focus off something that is happening behind closed doors. Whether there is any truth to this, who knows but history does set some precedence how they operate. It is interesting to note that the Jesuit General also resigned, the first since their inception. Not that these two issues related--just interesting. The bible makes it clear that the Beast controls the entire world. It is highly unlikely that the EU which is Masonically controlled would do anything without the Jesuits giving the order. Does 1798 sound familiar? Again, who knows. What I do know is that black is white and white is black.

Yes very interesting indeed.

[Ted Oplinger]

Some are saying that something BIG is brewing and they are using this resignation to take the focus off something that is happening behind closed doors. Whether there is any truth to this, who knows but history does set some precedence how they operate. It is interesting to note that the Jesuit General also resigned, the first since their inception. Not that these two issues related--just interesting. The bible makes it clear that the Beast controls the entire world. It is highly unlikely that the EU which is Masonically controlled would do anything without the Jesuits giving the order. Does 1798 sound familiar? Again, who knows. What I do know is that black is white and white is black.

I would be very hesitant to challenge your line of thought, Textus. It doesn't take much to look around and see there is something big afoot.

I am not a conspiracy buff - I tend to look at things fairly skeptically until the evidence is in. It's a given the Masons have quietly controlled things behind the scenes for a while in both the US and Europe.

Islam, though is a wild card that has gotten wilder with appeasement policies both the US and the EU have fostered. It appears the Jesuits have underestimated the power of Islamic fundamentalism. The Beast has yet to knuckle 1/4 of the world under its rule - and Islam would love to do nothing less than destroy St. Peter's Basilica and erect a colossal mosque atop the site.

The US appears to have gone off script - the Land Beast is no where near the point of pointing the world to worship the Sea beast, as secular liberalism is spinning into a fascist/socialist hybrid that points to the State as God, not a Pope. In doing so, the US two-party system has its population so polarized there are whispers about the unthinkable happening - a second Civil War.

The "behind-the-scenes" power brokers of this world seem ready to start cracking the whip to get things back on track toward setting up the Sea Beast-Land Beast hegemony controlling the world. The Sea Beast extricating itself from its current messes would signal things are soon to get serious worldwide.

We do live in "interesting times", as the Chinese saying goes...

Blessings,

[BobRyan]

TR - interesting point about the black pope.

Quote:

"Black Pope" resigned in 2008, "White Pope" in 2013

LoP Guest Wrote:

Quote:http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/d...he-vatican

"The black pope" is a nickname given to the Father General of the Society of Jesus. When the Jesuits were the most prestigious, influential missionary order in the world, the people of Rome began to speak jokingly of their head as a second pope. They called him "the black pope" because he wore the Jesuits' black clerical garb, in contrast to the real pope, who wore white and became known as "the white pope."

The head of the Jesuits, known as the "Black Pope" because of his black robes, is to step down voluntarily for the first time in the order's 500-year history.

http://www.catholiccitizens.org/platform...sp?c=31600 2/7/2006

Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, a Dutch prelate who has been Jesuit Superior General since 1983, resigned after tensions between the liberal-minded Jesuits and more conservative forces in the Roman Catholic Church. Since the election of Pope Benedict XVI last April a battle has been fought between the Jesuits and the conservative Opus Dei for control of the Vatican's media operations.

The Vatican said that Father Kolvenbach wanted to "hand the baton to a younger man", and that Pope Benedict XVI had given his blessing to the move. Father Kolvenbach will stand down in 2008, when he is 80. The Jesuits, the largest Catholic order, are said to have led opposition to the election of Pope Benedict.

1. I have heard that Opus Dei makes the Jesuits look like Choir boys.

2. "Most prestigious missionary group" statement above - is very instructive given one other Catholic source that was very vocal in speaking out on the mission and reputation of the Jesuit order.

Quote:

Jesuits were disbanded by Pope Clement XIV in 1773

...

Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, clashed with the Jesuits. He said the order had become too independent, leftist and political, particularly in Latin America. Many of the theologians disciplined by the Vatican in recent years have been Jesuits.

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/five.facts.about.the.jesuits/16052.htm

A pretty interesting "detail" given that one of the primary "missions" of the Jesuit order was to "Defend" the pope.

And there is Charles III of Spain in 1767 - leading up to the Pope's action as stated above.

Quote:

Campomanes tried to show Charles that the true leaders of the revolt against Esquilache were the Jesuits. The wealth and power of the Jesuits was very large; and by the royal decree of 27 February 1767, known as the Pragmatic Penalty of 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from Spain, and all their possessions were confiscated. His quarrel with the Jesuits, and the memory of his with the Pope while he was King of Naples turned him towards a general policy of restriction of what he saw as the overgrown power of the Church. The number of reputedly idle clergy, and more particularly of the monastic orders, was reduced, and the Spanish Inquisition, though not abolished, was rendered torpid. In spite of his hostility to the Jesuits, his dislike of friars in general, and his jealousy of the Spanish Inquisition, he was a very sincere Roman Catholic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III_of_Spain

[BobRyan]

So what reasons did Pope Clement XIV give for his decision to ban the Jesuit order?

The Papal Bull used to abolish the Jesuit order (Pope's words not mine)

http://www.reformation.org/jesuit-suppression-bull.html

He makes this ex-cathedra statement as Pope.

Quote:

"Actuated by so many and important considerations, and, as we hope, aided by the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit; compelled, besides, by the necessity of our ministry, which strictly obliges us to conciliate, maintain, and confirm the peace and tranquility of the Christian republic, and remove every obstacle which may tend to trouble it; having further considered that the said Company of Jesus can no longer produce those abundant fruits, and those great advantages, with a view to which it was instituted, approved by so many of our predecessors, and endowed with so many and extensive privileges; that, on the contrary, it was very difficult, not to say impossible, that the Church could recover a firm and durable peace so long as the said Society subsisted; in consequence hereof, and determined by the particular reasons we have here alleged, and forced by other motives which prudence and the good government of the Church have dictated; the knowledge of which we reserve to ourselves; conforming ourselves to the examples of our predecessors, and particularly to that of Gregory X. in the general Council of Lyons; the rather as, in the present case, we are determining upon the fate of a society classed among the mendicant orders, both by its institute and by its privileges; after a mature deliberation, we do, out of our certain knowledge, and the fulness of our apostolical power, SUPPRESS AND ABOLISH THE SAID COMPANY: we deprive it of all activity whatever, of its houses, schools, colleges, hospitals, lands, and, in short, every other place whatsoever, in whatever kingdom or province they may be situated; we abrogate and annul its statutes, rules, customs, decrees, and constitutions, even though confirmed by oath, and approved by the Holy See or otherwise; in like manner we annul all and every its privileges, indults, general or particular, the tenor whereof is, and is taken to be, as fully and as amply expressed in the present Brief as if the same were inserted word for word, in whatever clauses, form, or decree, or under whatever sanction their privileges may have been conceived. We declare all, and all kind of authority, the General, the provincials, the visitors, and other superiors of the said Society to be FOR EVER ANNULLED AND EXTINGUISHED, of what nature soever the said authority may be, as well in things spiritual as temporal. We do likewise order that the said jurisdiction and authority be transferred to the respective ordinaries, fully and in the same manner as the said generals, &c. exercised it, according to the form, places, and circumstances with respect to the persons and under the conditions hereafter determined; forbidding, as we do hereby forbid, the reception of any person to the said Society, the novitiate or habit thereof. And with regard to those who have already been admitted, our will is, that they be not received to make profession of the simple, solemn, absolute vows, under penalty of nullity, and such other penalties as we shall ordain: Further, we do will, command, and ordain, that those who are now performing their novitiate be speedily, immediately, and actually sent back to their own homes; we do further forbid that those who have made profession of the first simple vows, but who are not yet admitted to either of the holy orders, be admitted thereto under any pretext or title whatever; whether on account of the profession they have already made in the said Society, or by virtue of any privileges the said Society has obtained, contrary to the tenor of the decrees of the Council of Trent.

And then orders that no appeal may ever be made in all of time to re-instate the Jesuits.

Quote:

"Further, our will and pleasure is, that though the superiors and other members of the Society, and others interested therein, have not consented to this disposition, have not been cited or heard, still it shall not at any time be allowed them to make any observations on our present letter, to attack or invalidate it, to demand a further examination of it, to appeal from it, make it a matter of dispute, to reduce it to the terms of law, to proceed against it by the means of restitutionis ad integrum, to open their mouth against it, to reduce it ad viam et terminus juris, or, in short, to impugn it by any way whatever, of right or fact, favour or justice; and even though these means may be granted them, and though they should have obtained them, still they may not make use of them in court or out of court; nor shall they plead any flaw, subreption, obreption, nullity, or invalidity in this letter, or any other plea, how great, unforeseen, or substantial it may be, nor the neglect of any form in the above proceedings, or in any part thereof, nor the neglect of any point founded on any law or custom, and comprised in the body of laws, nor even the plea of enormis enormissimce et totalis laesionis, nor, in short, any pretext or motive, however just, reasonable, or privileged, not even though the omission of such form or point should be of such nature as, without the same being expressly guarded against, would render every other act invalid. For all this notwithstanding, our will and pleasure is, that these our letters should for ever and to all eternity be valid, permanent, and efficacious, have and obtain their full force and effect, and be inviolably observed by all and every whom they do or may concern, now or hereafter, in any manner whatever.

[Johann]

We are concerned about evil in the mighty Vatican today. How much cover-up has the now past pope been guilty of through the years?

Does it never dawn on us how much of that has been going on through the years withing our own denomination, although perhaps on a smaller scale?